Ghosts
by Demi Argeneau
Summary: Ghosts from Angel's past come back to haunt him, his lover, and their friends on Halloween. Angel/Buffy, Willow/Oz, Xander/Cordelia.


**RozaHathaway17 here! So Emilie Brown and I decided to do a BtVS holiday series, starting with a Halloween one! Written by Roza and beta-ed by Emilie. We don't own Buffy; it belongs to the evilly wonderful Joss Whedon. **

***Little bit of background: This is set in season three, but messes with the timeline a little. Instead of getting back together on Christmas Eve, Buffy and Angel got back together soon after the events of Revelations and before Lover's Walk. So, the pairings are Buffy/Angel, Willow/Oz, and Xander/Cordelia.**

**Ghosts**

**Chapter One**

**APOV**

"This is all your fault, Angel," my beautiful slayer tells me and I feel my heart fill with sadness.

"I'm sorry, Buffy," I whisper, looking down to avoid her hurt hazel-green eyes. I look back up as she screams and rush to her side, trying to fight off the vampires that have bitten into her pale throat. I try to pry the four vamps away from the love of my life but they won't budge and I watch the light fade from her eyes in horror. My fear and pain intensifies as the one woman of the group cuts her wrist, holding it to Buffy's mouth and forcing her to drink.

"No!" I scream, fighting the other three demons, who are now restraining me so I can't get to my girl to help her.

**~Ghosts~**

I stand before the grave and sorrow fills my heart as I read the words on the tombstone:

_Buffy Anne Summers_

_Beloved daughter_

_Devoted friend_

_Hero_

_January 19__th__ 1981 – October 31__st__ 1998_

A slender pale hand shoots out of the ground and a blonde head follows. Buffy growls at me, glaring with yellow eyes: eyes that replaced her hazel ones.

"You did this, Angel. Why didn't you save me?" Her face morphs back to her human one, eyes filling with tears.

"Buffy," I whisper, reaching out to her. She pounces at me, vamping out once again and I –

Wake up. I take a few calming, though unnecessary, breaths and roll over. Buffy is sleeping, peacefully, besides me. I listen to her strong, steady heart beat and say a silent thanks to whatever higher being is up there that that awful experience was only a dream. I scoot closer to my lover and wrap my arms around her. She sighs happily and snuggles into my arms. I kiss the top of her honey blonde head and try to fall back asleep. I fail miserably.

I hold Buffy close to me, grateful for her warm body against my cool skin, making me feel a little more alive. She stirs in my arms. A soft whimper escapes her lips and I run my fingers through her hair, hoping to calm her. She groggily opens her eyes and peeks up at me. I watch a small, peaceful smile cross her face for a moment before vanishing completely.

"What's wrong?" she murmurs, her small hand coming up to cup my cheek. I kiss her chastely.

"Nothing, baby," I assure her. "Why don't you go back to sleep for a little while? It's only five and you don't need to be up until six thirty." Her eyebrows crease in confusion.

"Why are you lying to me? Something's wrong? Are you okay, Angel? Talk to me," she demands softly, sitting up. I sigh and sit up next to her, pulling her tiny body into my arms. I kiss her temple and breathe in the sweet scent of vanilla shampoo.

"Just a nightmare. Don't worry about it," I assure her and stroke her hair back over her shoulder.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Buffy whispers, kissing my jaw softly. I shake my head and place a few more kisses on the side of her head. She sighs happily and leans into me.

"I love you, Angel," she murmurs. I tilt her head up and kiss her soft lips.

"I love you, Buffy."

**~Ghosts~**

I rub the back of my neck and start the coffee maker. Since the Scoobies slept over last night, I know at least a few of them will want coffee, but I personally won't touch the stuff. It makes me jittery. Buffy drags herself out into the kitchen and gets some blood out of the fridge. I raise my eyebrow at her.

"You need to eat," she sighs, huffily. "Nobody here minds. We're all friends." I walk over to her and kiss her temple.

"It makes your friends uncomfortable," I tell her, draping my arms around her tiny waist. I kiss her again to try to suppress a yawn when Willow walks into the kitchen with Oz right behind her.

"Good morning!" Willow says, sounding happy. "Is everything okay? You look like the dead. Well, you are dead but today you look it and Oz is supposed to stop me when I do that."

"I like when you do that," Oz kisses Willow's forehead then heads straight for the coffee. Xander, Cordelia, and Giles walk into the kitchen.

"Good morning all," Giles states. "Thank you for your hospitality last night, Angel." I nod in his direction, glad he seems to have forgiven me for what I did last year. Last night was just hectic what with all the research and the gang had been working in the mansion so I had offered to let them all stay over.

"Is there coffee?" Xander grumbles and I smirk. He is not a morning person. I point to the coffee pot and he drags his way over to grab a mug. Cordelia looks incredibly annoyed.

"With how much Buffy sleeps here, you'd think you'd have _one _mirror, but no. Like it would kill you to not see yourself," she huffs, sitting at the table and trying to check her appearance in a spoon. I shake my head and throw some eggs in a pan to fry.

"See, staying here's a good thing. We get breakfast," Buffy informs her friends with a big smile and sits down at the table after sticking my mug of blood in the microwave.

"You can cook? But you don't eat," Xander states. I sigh.

"I've been alive a long time, boy. I've picked up a few skills."

"He's a very good cook," Buffy defends making me smile.

"I say we all just be happy he's not wearing an apron. Because that would be scary," Oz says in his usual, nearly sarcastic tone. I serve up the eggs to everyone and get my blood out of the microwave then sit next to Buffy.

"Ohhh! Speaking of scary! Halloween is tonight. And for fear of repeating last year, I say we just have a little party with just us and no costumes and movies and popcorn and stuff," Willow rambles excitedly. Buffy shifts closer to me and leans against my arm.

"That sounds like fun. Maybe we could do it here? No parents and more space than Giles' place…" I look down into her bright hazel eyes and sigh. I know there's no use in fighting her once she's made up her mind about something.

"As long as I don't have to dress up. And you guys bring everything you need. It's been a long time since I've even been to a party, let alone thrown one," I lay down the rules, which is basically the same as agreeing and Buffy beams up at me.

"Thank you, Angel," she whispers, kissing me gently.

"Get to school," I tell her after she pulls away. She pouts but stands up and gathers her things, along with the others. As soon as they leave, I head back to my room and lie down to try to get some sleep.

**Review please? Thanks for reading!**


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